games, and I walked out in a pair of trousers and an old silk handkerchief, glad enough to have saved my skin. Then I opened a spiritstore, and was undersold by one of my own waiters. That was a bad job, for I had to leave in debt, but my best customer he wanted a man to look after a sheep-run, and he took me for lack of a better. I could have put by some money too, but the life's enough to kill a fellow who hasn't been regularly broke for a hermit, and I cut it before I'd been with him six weeks. I've done a few odd jobs since then, and travelled over most of the colony, either for business or pleasure. For my part, I think one place is very like another. In the meantime I wish you good-night, gentlemen. You've given me plenty to eat and drink, many thanks to you, and for smoking and sleeping I can shift for myself.'

In two minutes more he was fast asleep; and his entertainers, nothing loth to follow so good an example, threw a fresh log on the fire, and betook themselves without farther ceremony to their repose.

He

Gilbert remained awake after the other two had begun to snore. Happiness is no heavy sleeper, and it was a luxury which of late he never missed, to lie for a while with half-shut eyes, and suffer his fancy to wander into that golden future, which every day that passed seemed to bring more near. was so happy; he felt so kindly disposed towards his fellow-creatures. This adventurer, sleeping heavily by his side, seemed, notwithstanding his eccentricities, to be an honest, well-meaning fellow enough. He would find out more about him to-morrow; he would befriend him, and perhaps help him to a chance of something better than the wild reckless life he had lately led. It was so delightful to do good for Ada's sake. To refer all his feelings and actions to the imaginary standard by which he thought she would judge them.

There is a story in one of the old romaunts of an unknown champion who never raised his vizor lest man or woman should

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look upon his face; but who rode the country like a true Paladin, rescuing the oppressed from the oppressor, winning armour, and gems, and countless riches with his sword, and bestowing great largesses on all who were in need, the bad and good alike. Yet never a guerdon asked he for blood or treasure save one. On the vanquished knight at his feet, the rescued damsel at his bridle hand, the beggar by the wayside, the barefooted hermit, and the mitred abbot, he imposed the same conditions-Priez pour elle. With

those three words he claimed his wages, and day by day the prayers from warm, thankful hearts went up to heaven for Her. Thus she prospered, and was happy, and forgot him.

So at last he won a king's battle, fighting, as was his wont, in the van. But a lance head broke deep in that honest breast, and a shrewd sword-stroke clove the trusty headpiece in twain, and for the first time in harness or in hall, men looked on the pale, worn face of the unknown knight. So they turned his rein out of the press, and brought him to the king. Then did that monarch swear on his sword-hilt that he would reward him by whatsoever he should ask, were it the hand of his only daughter or the jewels out of his very crown, but the knight's white lips smiled feebly, for the blood was welling up through his armour, and draining his life faster and faster away. His voice was very low and thick, yet did men hear him plainly; Priez pour elle, said he, and so fell dead. Then a bonnie bird flew to the bower of a lightsome ladye, and beat with its wings against the casement, till she put forth her snowy arm and it perched upon her wrist. Said the lightsome ladye-Bonnie bird, bonnie bird, comest thou from my love?' And the bonnie bird answered-'From which of thy false loves? from him in scarlet and ermine? or from him in rochet and stole? from the Prince of the Isles with his golden crest, or the pretty page with his lute on his

knee? But she said-'From none of these. Comest thou from my true love in the plain steel harness, with his lance in the rest, and his vizor ever down? Then said the bonnie bird-Thy true love sleeps in his plain steel harness, and his vizor is up at last, and men have looked upon his face.' But the lightsome ladye's cheek turned white as her snowy arm, for she knew then that he was dead, and she said-Qui me gagne, me perd; qui m'a perdu m'a gagné.'

So the false loves mourned awhile for the sake of the lightsome ladye, because she smiled on them no longer; and after a year and a day, the shadow of the bonnie bird flitted across a new-made grave, and when it perched at the casement, behold, the lightsome ladye was in her bower no more. it was well for her that the prayers of the good and bad, and the poor and sorrowing, and the hungry and thirsty, had interceded for her soul.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

A PRIOR CLAIM.

Then

'More sore backs,' observed John Gordon in a tone of condensed provocation, as, being the earliest riser of the three, he returned to the fire, and put the pot on for breakfast, after a matutinal visit to the horses. Already he had caught and tethered them; and on examination of those ridden by his friend and the stranger, had discovered that their hides were severely galled under the saddle, and that neither of them would probably carry a man's weight without considerable suffering for many days. This is a casualty none the less irritating that it is the common lot of all equestrians. This it is that destroys the efficiency of a cavalry soldier, and reduces the traveller to the ignominious necessity of walking with his bridle over his arm. Alas, that there is no remedy for it but rest!

Gilbert and the stranger still slept soundly and peacefully side by side, dreaming, it might be, each

of them, of the fresh English glades, and the cool English breeze; of rich waving meadow or smiling upland farm; perhaps of a fair English face, that itself made the fatherland emphatically a home. John soon roused them; 'Bill'—as he requested his entertainers to call him-proving himself no mean adept in the art of roughing it, and improvising with ingenious skill a multitude of little comforts astonishing to his less experienced comrades. As he became more familiar with them, too, he seemed gradually to recover the manners of a man who had lived in good society. His tone lost much of its coarseness, his expressions many of those quaint Yankeeisms which have become the colloquial slang of adventurers in every part of the world. Without quite coming up to the standard of a gentleman in the somewhat fastidious opinions of Orme and Gordon, he had evidently the trick and turn of speech habitual to certain circles, and which, once attained, is never lost again. Altogether, 'Bill' puzzled both of his entertainers considerably.

After breakfast-consisting of a réchauffé of the 'steamer,' and the tin mug filled with weak tea-a council of war was established, and future measures taken into consideration. Two of the party must walk, there could be no question on that point, and as John's horse was the only available animal, it was settled that he should ride up the creek to a certain bay from which he knew his way to the spot where their people had camped, while Gilbert and the stranger should remain where they were, till fresh horses could be sent for them, when they would all proceed together towards Sydney, that being the ultimate destination of the whole party.

So the two new acquaintances watched John's retreating form as he rode away through the Bush, and prepared to spend the long summer's day in the society of each other, and the care of their enfeebled horses.

Being Englishmen, the latter

topic afforded them an inexhaustible fund of conversation, and the points of 'Bill's' mount, an animal possessing extraordinary powers of speed and endurance, were canvassed at considerable length.

'He is a right good one,' said his master, eyeing with no small disgust the running wound in the poor beast's back. And yesterday was the fifth day he must have carried me from seventy to eighty miles. I've been far up the country to look at a sheep farm, and now I'm on my way back to Sydney about paying for it. It's a queer life, this, for a man who once had a decent house over his head, and drove his own cab every day into London; ay, and could give a friend as good a dinner as a duke. It's been a queer time, mine, from first to last-mostly in a gale of wind; always a heavy sea; not the steadiest fellow alive at the helm ; and a strong tendency to carry too much sail in all weathers. I should have been a different man but for three things. I never could resist making money, I never could resist staking money, and I never could resist spending money. I sometimes wonder whether I shall drop my anchor in smooth water at last. I sometimes think I should like to have done with these ups and downs; to make one more good hit that would set me straight again; and so go home to my wife, lead a new life, and toddle peaceably on towards my grave.'

"What, you are married then? asked Gilbert, with increasing interest in his companion.

"That am I,' was the reply; 'and to as nice a woman, and as pretty a woman, and as good a woman, as you'll see in a summer's day. It's been a strange story, mine, from first to last. We've nothing to do but smoke and yarn the whole of this blessed day; if you'll light your pipe and sit down, I'll tell it you.'

Gilbert acceded willingly; throwing himself at length on the dry ground in the shade, he lit up the indispensable pipe, and listened attentively.

'I began too fast,' said the narra

tor; 'I've gone on too fast; I expect I shall finish too fast. If it's at all down hill the pace will be something quite out of the common. I've had friends, plenty of them; fine jovial fellows, who would back me for all they were worth, so long as I was in luck; and I never found one of them yet that I could depend upon when the wheel turned. There was a time in my life, to be sure I was very young, when I thought a sworn brother would have seen me through anything. I have learned better since then; but I don't think I owe those any thanks who taught me the lesson. Well, as I was telling you, they turned me loose in Paris at sixteen, with plenty of money in my pockets, and not so very green for my age. Before I was twenty, I found out one or two things that are better not learned quite so soon. I found out that there's only one person a man of sense ever considers, and that the more you make men and women subservient to your own interests, the better they treat you, especially the women. I found out you should never go in for a stake without resolving to stand for no repairs, but to win, whatever it costs; and above all I found out that if once a woman gets your head under water, she ducks you till you're drowned. I'm not such a fool as I look, and one lesson was all I needed to teach me that. Ah! Mademoiselle Aimée! I don't think it was I who had the worst of it when all was done.'

There was something repulsive in his jarring laugh, as he gave vent to this vindictive reflection; something grating to his listener's feelings. The latter was one of those men whom a woman might have ruined, body and soul, and he would never have visited it on her.

'Well, sir, when I came to England I led a pleasant life enough. I had plenty of floating capital, and I knew how to make the most of it. I wasn't one of your fine gentlemen who can ruffle it bravely so long as the wind's fair and the tide helping them on. I could make the most of a good thing

6

and the best of a bad one. So before I had spent the whole of my first fortune I had taken out three times its value in amusement and dissipation. I liked the life. Hang it, sir! I should like the life over again. It wasn't bad fun to go to Epsom and Ascot, Newmarket and Goodwood, with champagne and sunshine, pretty bonnets and kind looks, and a good guess at the colours that would be first past the judge's chair. There's nothing like it in this cursed country. But it was worth while to stand in a barouche up to your neck in muslin with the fast ones who had won their glove-bets, thanking you for putting them on,' and the quiet ones, who wanted to have a look at the winner, leaning over your shoulder to see his jockey go to scale; and a 'monkey' at least to the credit-side of your own book landed in about a minute and a half. But what's the use of talking about it? You've seen it all yourself. Bless you, I know your face as well as my own; and, forgive me for saying, if it wasn't for your beard I could put a name to it, I'm sure. Well, sir, this sort of thing has but one fault that I know ofit's too good to last. The better the liquor, you know, the sooner you get to the end of the bottle. I made a bad hit or two in the money-market, and I lost a cracker backing Armstrong's lot for the Derby. If you were there, you'll agree with me that Belphegor was pulled. There never was so gross a case. The Rejected goes and wins the Two Thousand. I myself saw him tried with his stable companion, and the latter beat him by three lengths in a mile and a half. The worst of the two was five pounds better than anything else in the race. What is the result? When they come out at Epsom, Belphegor runs third for the Derby; the other horse is nowhere; and Armstrong wins the largest stake in the ring. I tell you it was a robbery-the biggest of the year. They put me in the hole, the scoundrels! and I've never had a chance at them since. I was forced to go abroad for a while; but I got into

some money from a cousin soon after, and paid up everything. I had enough to live on; and if I could have kept out of the market I might have done well. I married a wife, too, and took a pretty little house near London, where we lived quietly and comfortably enough. I have often thought since that this was the happiest time of my life. She was a good contented soul, ay, and a pretty one, too. It's so long since I've seen a real fresh Englishwoman, it does me good to think of her, with her soft brown hair and her gentle quiet ways. There's nothing like 'em, to my fancy; and I dare say you agree with me?'

Gilbert subscribed willingly to his companion's sentiments. He had formed his own ideal of woman's beauty, and was not likely to depart from a standard that was seldom absent from his thoughts, that he had looked on again only last night in his dreams. We have each of us our different pattern. I have seen Titian's Venus, every bit of her, and Canova's, and nearly all the Madonnas. I can fancy the Anadyomene rising in the lustre of her charms, fresh and radiant, from the sparkling wavecan picture to myself the deep eyes, the queenly brow, the loving lips, the glowing limbs, and rich ambrosial tresses, wreathed in shells and gold. And yet-and yet! to me a worn stained glove, a withered leaf, crushed and sapless as my own old heart, can recal more of beauty, more of worship, more of longing, loving sorrow, than Titian's colours, or Canova's marble, than all the Madonnas with all their holy perfections, nay, than the shining vision itself of Love's majestic goddess, offspring of the sea and sky.

Gilbert's standard was a fair one enough. He liked to think of her whilst he led his companion to talk on of those peaceful days.

'There's a deal of confinement about a married life,' proceeded the latter; and at last, what with speculations failing, and Consols dropping all at once, not to mention a continual run of ill-luck with "the bones," I saw no way out of

it but "to bolt." So I broke it to "the missis" one fine morning, and sailed that same night. Short notice, you'll say, sir; and so it was. But women are like horses in many ways, and in none more than this: that we never know what they can do till we try them. She was a regular trump, that wife of mine. I left her what I could in the way of furniture and odds and ends, but she made me take every rap of money she could muster, poor thing! And she put up all her little trinkets in a packet, and thrust it into my hand when I started. There's only one of them left, but I'll never part with it as long as I live. Look ye. Here it is !'

He drew a small gold bracelet from his breast as he spoke, and handed it to Gilbert, who examined it with the reverence due to a husband's last memorial from his wife. It wanted cleaning sadly, and was worn and frayed here and there, where it had nestled against bowieknife or revolver, or some such uncongenial companion. Many a strange scene had that little keepsake witnessed, many an unholy orgie and wild midnight carouse. Yet, bad as he was, the man had the grace to lay it aside upon occasion rather than pollute the only link he had with a purer, fairer state of being passed away for evermore. There were times, too, in his adventurous life, when he was penniless, that the sale of such an article would have brought twenty times its cost amongst his reckless, half-savage associates. But no! some inward feeling he could not define bade him rather starve than part with his wife's farewell gift. He said as much while he laid it away once more within his breast; and Gilbert, keenly alive to all such impressions, vowed in his heart that there was good in the man, after all, and that he would do everything in his power to benefit him ere they should part.

'I'd a curious run of ill-luck,' he proceeded, after I came to the colony. First I failed in one line, then in another; at last I got so involved I was forced to cut VOL. LXIV. NO. CCCLXXIX.

31

and run. Come! you're a good chap and a gentleman. I don't mind telling you. I made them put my death in the papers. I changed my name. I started fresh in a new line; and got on like a house on fire. It's a long time ago now. I've never heard from England since. Sometimes I've thought I'd write; but what's the use? She thinks she has been a widow for years perhaps she has married again. I hope she's got one that is kind to her! I don't often bother about it. I can't think what has come over me just now; but somehow to-day I would give my allowance of grog to know what has become of Ada. Hold on, sir! There, you've broke your pipe.'

In effect, Gilbert started and turned pale at the name, breaking in his confusion the cherished pipe that had been so artistically coloured by many weeks of judicious smoking. It took him a minute or two to reflect that there might be more Adas than one in the world; and that it was neither rational nor manly to allow the enunciation of three letters to produce such an effect on his demeanour. These proper names are sufficiently cabalistic in their effects. I have seen a life-guardsinan, six feet two, with moustaches down to his elbows, utterly put to confusion by a discerning little lady five years of age. The champion goodhumouredly asked her name. 'Dora,' answered that matter-offact personage, in one of those clear childish trebles which command immediate attention from a whole dinner-table, 'you know it is, because I heard you say it twice when you were looking at "Aunt Dottie's" picture in the library.'

Ambrosial whiskers somewhat shaded and toned down the blushes of that helpless dragoon; but poor 'Aunt Dottie,' who wore her hair à l'Impératrice, remained considerably pinker than usual for the rest of the evening. Well, well, Frank Grant has painted a better picture of her now than the one in the library; and she has got a rival already in the affections of her incautious captain, a sturdy little

C